#TellTheTruthBelgium

The Truth About COVID-19 And The Ecological Crisis - A Speech For Sophie Wilmès

Across Belgium, millions of people have turned
their lives upside down to slow the spread of Coronavirus. We are making
progress, and I thank you all for your efforts. Tragically however,
many have died or are critically ill. Our thoughts go to them and to
their families.

This pandemic has forced us to take unprecedented
measures. However I have to tell you now that these measures are not
sufficient to address the true gravity of the situation. I am speaking
to you once again today to share with you new knowledge that we have
gained concerning the current crisis.

The scientific community
has told us that the COVID-19 crisis is in fact only one of many
consequences of a much larger problem. If we are to overcome the current
crisis, as well as the crises that will arise in future, which may be
yet more serious, we must address this problem immediately.

What I have to say to you today may be difficult to hear. I am well aware of this.

Over
the past decades we have seen a dramatic increase in new diseases such
as Ebola, Swine Flu, SARS and now COVID-19 (1, 2). Scientific research
shows that these outbreaks are directly linked to the exploitation and
destruction by humans of our natural environment: deforestation,
industrial agriculture, our use of antibiotics, global warming and
international travel (3). Wild animals no longer have enough space to
live. Diseases are being transmitted between species that have never
before met. Intensive animal farming creates mass-scale opportunities
for dangerous diseases to evolve and spread. (3, 4)

Coronavirus
is an alarm bell we cannot ignore. Pandemics are one of the consequences
of a deeper ecological crisis. Scientists, indigenous peoples and
environmentalists have long been warning us that we are facing the
imminent collapse of the ecosystems we all depend on for our survival.
(5, 6, 7)

For centuries, our societies have viewed nature as a
stock of resources to be exploited. Our need for energy and materials
has steadily grown (8, 9, 10). A handful of European nations, including
Belgium, colonised large swathes of the world, exploiting indigenous
populations and plundering the earth. This is not merely history. These
injustices still exist today: the richest ten per cent of the world’s
population consumes twenty times more energy than the poorest ten per
cent. (11, 12) Belgium has one of the world's highest ecological
footprints in the world. (13)

Governments speak of our planet
heating by 1.5 or 2°C. The difference seems minimal, but this half
degree will cause sea levels to rise higher, more flooding, more fires,
droughts, desertification and famine. This half degree represents
hundreds of millions of deaths (14, 15). Every day, an unprecedented
amount of plant and animal species disappear forever. Ten to hundred
times faster than in the last 10 million years. (16) This crisis is not a
distant threat. Across the world, people are already seeing their lands
and livelihoods wiped out. (17)

So far, our country has been
spared the worst effects of the ecological crisis. Yet even here in
Belgium, harvests will fail for lack of water and pollinating insects.
(18, 19) People near the coast will be forced from their homes as sea
levels rise. (20, 21) Many more of us will die from heat waves and air
pollution (22). Today, people are fighting over toilet paper. If we do
not act now, we will soon be fighting over food in front of empty
supermarket shelves.

We have pinned too much hope on new
technologies. (23, 24, 25) Science tells us that no existing technology
can counteract or reverse the ecological breakdown. And it does not seem
that we can expect such a technology to emerge in the foreseeable
future. (26)

To date, we have failed as policy makers to grasp
the seriousness of the ecological collapse. But today, the Coronavirus
crisis is making us aware of the depth of change required of us: we must
change our way of life, and we must change it now.

I will
continue to make use of the special powers entrusted to me by Parliament
to address the most urgent aspects of the ongoing pandemic. But we must
go further. This will require great courage and effort from all of us:
from businesses, from policy makers, and from citizens.

The
measures needed to combat the ecological crisis will affect each and
every one of us permanently. No government should take such far reaching
decisions alone, even in times of emergency. Those most affected by
these measures must be the ones who determine them. This is not only the
fairest option, it is the most effective one.

For this reason, I
am announcing the immediate creation of new Citizens’ Assemblies. With
the assistance of experts, these will be asked to decide the most urgent
priorities and to propose policies. Assembly members will be drawn by
lot and will represent all inhabitants of Belgium proportionally: the
old and the young; the poor and the prosperous; citizens of all
political, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Deciding how we come
out of the corona crisis will have an enormous impact on our future.
Different economic sectors have very different impacts on the
environment and on people’s wellbeing. Which companies will we choose to
support with taxpayers’ money once the lockdown is over? How best can
we support those having difficulty paying their bills because of the
crisis? How do we make sure that our health system remains strong enough
to withstand future crises? (27) Answering these questions will be the
first task of the new Citizens’ Assemblies.

We have gravely
damaged our planet. It is time to face this difficult truth and to take
responsibility. I ask you to come together, to unite as a resilient
community so that together we can turn the tide. This historic burden
will be shared across many shoulders and we will work together for a
healthier, more balanced and brighter future.

Oswald,
Y., Owen, A. & Steinberger, J.K. Large inequality in international
and international energy footprints between income groups and across
consumption categories. Nature Energy 5, 231–239 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0579-8